The present invention relates to emergency treatment and control of hemorrhage in places where compression is needed but a tourniquet is not desired, and where control by compression is difficult.
Serious injuries, as in military conflict or automobile collisions, for example, often result in hemorrhage. Two types of hemorrhage that are not addressed well by currently available products are non-tourniquetable compressible hemorrhage and non-compressible hemorrhage.
Internal bleeding due to a fractured pelvis can easily result in death. Rapidly reducing a fracture of a pelvis decreases mortality substantially, and devices are known for reducing a fracture and stabilizing the fractured pelvis in emergency situations, so that a patient can be transported to a hospital or other treatment facility. Stabilization of the pelvis within the first hour after a fracture occurs is critical and may often determine whether the patient lives or dies.
Bleeding can often be stopped on a hemorrhaging wound if direct pressure is applied, but a tourniquet often cannot be used when the wound is either not on an extremity or is too close to the torso for effective tourniquet use. For a non-compressible hemorrhaging wound, direct pressure is not possible or not effective, so one must occlude the vasculature proximal to the injury site. It is common that wounds in the junctional or torso area occur in polytrauma patients, where the bleeding wound is not the only injury. In cases where pelvic fracture is also present, the pelvis should be reduced to a controlled compression level in order to prevent internal exsanguination.
Krieg, et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,554,784 and 7,008,389 disclose devices which can be used to encircle the hips of an injured person and provide a proper amount of hoop tension to urge the parts of a person's fractured pelvic ring toward a normal relationship and thus reduce internal bleeding at the site or sites of fracture.
Ward, U.S. Patent Application Publication Document No. US 2010/0179586 discloses a belt system with inflatable bags attached and adjustable in position, for use in control of hemorrhage in regions of the body where it is difficult to apply conventional compression, but different operators may adjust the belt to different levels of tightness. If stabilization of a pelvic fracture is desired at the same time as arterial hemorrhage control through the bladder, the reduction force to the pelvis may be excessive or the force applied to achieve hemostasis may be inadequate.